


But nobody came

by junebugtwin



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Canonical Child Abuse, Child Neglect, F/F, Families of Choice, Family Feels, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Isolation, Lena gets along surprisingly well with Louie, Protective Scrooge, Swearing, a sad little ghost, it's not a great time, lena gets trapped in her amulet, she's basically a ghost, webby 'you WILL be my friend' vanderquack
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:54:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26037490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junebugtwin/pseuds/junebugtwin
Summary: Trust Magica to accidentally leave her incredibly powerful amulet just sitting around where anybody could find. Extremely dangerous, and also, kinda cruel, considering she stuffed a child in it.---or, Lena meets the McDuck family in a slightly different capacity.
Relationships: Dewey Duck & Huey Duck & Louie Duck & Lena & Webby Vanderquack, Lena (Disney: DuckTales) & Scrooge McDuck, Lena (Disney: DuckTales) & Webby Vanderquack, Lena (Disney: DuckTales)/Webby Vanderquack
Comments: 71
Kudos: 173





	1. lost and found

Lena had been to all sorts of places- Mount Vesuvius, of course, with it’s stupid stormy skies and sharp grey rocks, she’d been to plenty of surrounding towns in Italy, even eventually made her way to Venice- which had been beautiful, though she hadn’t really been able to appreciate it for long. Canada had been a bit of a shock after that, what with its white winters and aggressive wildlife- the ducks there were no nicer than anyone else she’d ever seen, but she supposed not all rumors could be true. Eventually they traveled down to America, Magica complaining about the ‘infuriatingly’ slow pace the whole time, which had admittedly soured the otherwise pretty view. From there she’d swear they’d just about been to every state, Magica’s movements growing increasingly more dramatic and frantic as she searched fruitlessly from the infamous McDuck.

And then- and then she’d fucking _lost_ her. She’d slept in some cheap hotel, and momentarily took off her pendant to do something or another- Lena really couldn’t remember or care- and then she left! She’d forgotten her!

And Lena had been left to pace that stupid hotel in her stupid ghostly form, never allowed to stray too far from her _stupid_ amulet. They hotel staff came in, muttering about the horrid state Lena’s inconsiderate aunt had left the place, and one of them noticed her, and instead of putting her in the lost and found or whatever, decided to keep her.

Which like, a bit rude, but also fair- a girls gotta eat. Especially considering this girl- a young woman named something beginning with an r, had a family to feed, and was definitely not paid enough for the shit she had to probably put up with. Lena got it, she really did. But also. Like. Fuck her.

Because then r-lady had pawned her off on E-bay or whatever, and she’d been on a grand fucking tour of America’s most desperate from then on.

She hadn’t thought it was possible to feel more like an object than when she had existed with Magica as her master- but at least Magica talked to her (though mostly just because she was crazy and liked to monologue, but still). Now she was being passed around like somebodies antiquated garbage, sold at thrift shops and garage sales, dropped on the street or left in someone’s bag for someone else to steal and then sell and then start the process all over again.

On the plus side, a lot of the people who bought her were weird, and their homes doubly so. On the negative side, a lot of the people who bought her were _weird_ , and their homes were like haunted fucking houses on steroids.

But yeah, she’d been to some pretty interesting places. But none so interesting as _this_.

The house of her new owner could only liberally called one- it was a mansion- a goddamn castle almost. Like- whoever the duck that had bought her was, he was actual _millionaire_ kind of thing.

Lena’s spiritual manifestation followed after the- frankly _giant_ \- grandma who’d purchased her at a slow pace, staring up at the building with a slack jaw and eyes full of awe. And a bit of bitterness too, because she’d spent most of her life living in less than fortunate circumstances- over-filled orphanages, a lackluster foster system, homelessness, and then Magica’s full sprint across the world, only sleeping where she could afford- which was mostly just shitty little apartments or hotels.

And then there was this- this monstrosity of a house. Just existing, pleasantly, for the undoubtedly rich bastards who relaxed inside it, uncaring of the fact that with even a _twelfth_ of this money, she never would have climbed her way up a certain mountain one desperate day.

But whatever- she ground her non-existent teeth and did nothing, because she _couldn’t_. She couldn’t do nothing now, as an invisible passenger, and she couldn’t do nothing before, just one of thousands, a little girl fallen through the cracks. There was almost no point in doing anything about it.

 _God_ , at least before if she screamed people would hear it, even if they ignored it.

The insanely jacked old lady entered a password on the intimidating front door and stepped inside, careful to hang her coat up on the rack without messing up too many of the other garments.

The inside of the house was much different the outside- where the outside was properly trimmed and huge and gorgeous the inside was…well it _was_.

The walls were covered in strange memorabilia- giant swords, and freakish skulls, knights suits that looked historically accurate- ominously, a picture of Santa Claus with a red X painted across it.

Lena glanced back at grandma England, _deeply_ concerned. This did not look like it fit her at all- she had only had the displeasure of following her around for a small amount of time, but the impression she got was- strict, professional, no nonsense. Not…whatever the hell _this_ would indicate about a person’s personality.

An elderly duck turned the corner and came towards them, tapping his cane against the floor, in what looked like a purely aesthetic manner. He was honestly silly looking. Fancy cane, the little eyeglass things only cartoon villains wore, a weird red overcoat, and a whole ass top-hat. In his own home.

There was also something… _familiar_ about him, though she couldn’t for the life of her pinpoint what, no matter how much she stared at him. And she got nice and up close too- the one good thing about essentially being a ghost was that you could get as up in someone’s face as you wanted- Lena had _literally_ read half a book over someone’s shoulder once.

“Beakley, what’d you discover about the energy signature?” He asked in a rather surprising Scottish accent. He sounded somewhat impatient, a bit stressed. She wondered what type of energy signature he was talking about, to get his pants all in a twist. Also kind of odd this…couple?? was snooping around for energy signatures, but whatever, it wasn’t like she could judge, she technically consented to being turned into a shadow. so.

The older woman dug Lena’s amulet out of her purse, setting it gently (which was nice for a change) down onto the kitchen counter, which was where she’d decided to take their little soiree. Lena ‘sat down’ in one of the kitchen chairs, pretending like she was a real person at the table, and leaned her head on her hand.

The grandma- Beakley, supposedly- gestured with exaggerated calm towards Lena’s magical prison. The Scottish Duck’s eyebrows shot up, and he stumbled over, starring down at her amulet like it was about to blow up.

Lena quirked her head, squinting. The ‘energy signature’, whatever that really meant, had come from her amulet? That was…weird. That meant these folks were aware of the fantastical and horrifying world of magic right? Cause she was pretty sure her last resting place wasn’t admitting beta gamma’s or radiation or whatever, right? That was really the only thing they could be talking about, which was…hmm. Somewhat disarming.

“This is De’Spells amulet-Beakley- how’dyou-?” Scottish duck asked frantically, looking Beakley over as if for wounds. Lena’s mouth dropped open.

Okay! SO they didn’t just know about the existence of magic, they knew about one of its most powerful users- and were apparently afraid of her, which meant they probably knew her personally- oh god

 _Ohhh_ _nnooo_. This was so bad, so _fucking_ bad! Lena leapt to her feet, wading through the table and trying to yank the magical artifact off it frantically. It didn’t work, because it didn’t work the first time, when she was crying and pawing at the Cliffside around her, and it didn’t work the second time, when she strained towards a public phone- to call someone, anyone- the _police_ even, if they could just _save_ her- if she could just talk to _someone_ , please please someone other than-

Desperation did nothing but make her invisible heart-rate go up, it did not magically snatch the amulet away from the ducks gawking at it.

“She wasn’t there. It wasn’t even in some sort of lair- I found it at a garage sale. It was one fifty.” Beakley spoke firmly, with a slight hint of bitterness at the edges of her tone, somewhat shaking Lena out of her panicked state.

Right- shit- she had to start _listening_ to these assholes, considering they held her life in their filthy rich hands.

The Scottish duck spo- wait _that was fucking Scrooge McDuck holy fuck wait_ -

“I…see. Well then, perhaps lady luck has fin’lly shone our way.” He murmured, rubbing at his chin. Beakley snorted, looking doubtful.

“Well no matter.” McDuck- jesus Christ- nodded to himself in a determined manner, before reaching into his vest and bringing out some sort of coin attached to a string.

Was that the much spoken of Number One Dime? What was he going to do with it?? Lena sat back in her chair, pulling her knees up and putting her head on top of them, sighing to herself. It was quite possible she’d be stuck in a completely new fucking magic bullshit thing now, which was par for the fucking course!

Why could things not just work out for once?

McDuck carefully, and almost reverently tipped his dime towards her amulet, and gently hit it with a slight clink.

Then her amulet pulsed bright pink and shone as brightly as she’d first seen it, that miserable rainy day in a sewer, when it seemed like a beacon of hope, instead of the curse it was. It had looked so bright, so fantastical, and wonderful and magical- like she was the poor little girl who finally got chosen for her very own exciting adventure- far from starvation and pain and cold.

Of course, fairy tales like that happened to _other_ little girls. Lena’s was more the dark German kind.

And then as quickly as it had started, the glowing cut off, and it went back to looking like a somewhat gaudy bobble.

The Grandma and McDuck were still gazing at intently, as if any minute now it would do something actually interesting.

Lena let out a gusty sigh, and reburied her head atop her knees- in her momentary excitement she’d tensed up and leaned forward.

Suddenly, something must have moved outside, or even in the kitchen itself, because the odd pair had swung their head around and were staring surprisedly behind her. Lena turned around, somewhat curious to see what had caught their attention- but the area was as same as it ever was.

Lena tilted her head, studying the cupboards more intensely. Maybe there was something but she’d hadn’t noticed because she was less familiar with this place than her owners?

But after a moment of inspection she gave up, figuring that she’d find out eventually, and turned back towards the table. Oddly, McDuck and Beakley were still gawking, the buffer woman half stood up as if to intimidate something. Lena furrowed her brows, idly playing with a piece of her hair.

“Who are you?” Beakley spoke coldly, and Lena whipped her head around to look behind her again, this time peering around far enough she almost ‘fell’ out of her seat. What the hell was going on? Was someone here and they could only be seen by non-shadow people for some reason??

“You- Lass, you with the pink bangs an’ the striped shirt, we’re talkin’ to you.” Lena froze, her head halfway turning back around. Her breath stilled in her chest as it suddenly occurred to her that she could actually feel the smooth wood of the seat beneath her. She could feel the air- the air! Jesus she was breathing! How had she not- what was-

Lena let out a full body shudder and sprung to her feet, almost falling to the ground at the sensation of her webbed flippers actually landing solidly on the cool flooring.

The floor was cool it was cool it was cool- she was feeling temperature! Lena let out a shaky gasp of air, smiling and crying at the same time- and tears hurt! They were hot and achy!

She sprinted towards the sink, and miraculously, wonderfully, amazingly, gripped the sink’s nozzle, and sprayed fresh cold, real water into her mouth-

She gulped it down as fast as she could high on the feeling of actually swallowing something, of feeling it go down her throat and slosh in her stomach- of having a stomach!!

Lena was smiling so hard it hurt, when a confused sounding voice interrupted her festivities.

“Uuhhh, great uncle Scrooge… why is some girl drinking our tap water, while you stare at her with fear and bewilderment?” Lena awkwardly swung around, locking eyes with a somewhat concerned looking kid in a green hoodie.

There was a moment of silence, where all the somewhat negative repercussions of being real and perceived by others came flooding back to Lena’s mind.

She waved uncertainly. Only the green one waved back.


	2. Panic and Peer Pressure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to give a big thank you to everyone who commented! It was awesome to get so many nice compliments, and it really helped me to push through and write more of this fic! So thank you everyone, you guys are great :-)

The room was absolutely quiet for what felt like an eternity, the thick kind of silence that only happened when exactly no one knew what to make of a situation.

And then Lena _moved_. It was amazing, pushing her muscles, feeling them react and strain under her own control- the fear from the situation and the exhilaration from having said feeling making her head swim.

She’d like to say that she was running, but it was a little crazier than that- more akin to a wild panther leaping across a jungle than a civilized duckling sprinting. (Not that she’d call herself _civilized_ by any stretch of the word anyway.) But she couldn’t exactly help it if her motor controls were a little busted after literal years of being non-corporeal. Sue her.

All the ducks in the room had jumped at her sudden and erratic movements, but none more so than the green one who outright let out a startled yelp.

To be fair to him, she _was_ charging straight at him.

His voice increased in pitch and he leapt to the side, allowing her to scramble past him, using her arms as well as her legs to help propel her towards her destination.

What was her destination? Wow what a great question! Shame she had no goddamn clue- at this point she’d gotten as far as ‘the fuck away’ and pretty much gave up on trying for any other solution. She wasn’t about to stand around and let terminator grandma and Co chain her up and try to get answers out of her, or worse, simply put her back in the amulet.

It’d only been a few minutes since she’d been stuck inside her prison but she didn’t think she could stand even half a second more of it, not after she’d felt- not after she breathed- not after- _god_! Whatever, she couldn’t even name it, the sensation of being alive, alive, _actually_ alive- she wasn’t going to fucking give it up! Not for Magica and not for these assholes either!

The only downside to her genius plan was that this house was huge, and she didn’t exactly have the home turf advantage. Making a snap decision she turned, clambering up the stairs on all fours with all the grace of a drunk dude walking across a tightrope in a hurricane.

It wasn’t exactly stealthy, the stairs creaking loudly- weirdly old and shitty for a mansion to have, what kind of rich person couldn’t afford to have their squeaky-ass stairs fixed anyway??

She could hear loud ominous footsteps behind her, which wasn’t exactly surprising, but managed to hurry her already fast paced heart rate up to alarming levels. She hadn’t felt the physical consequences of panicking in a long time, but guess what, it still sucked!

(As a side note, it would at least be a _little_ funny if she died from a heart attack minutes after escaping the amulet)

Coming to the top of the stairs she bolted down a random hallway, flippers almost tripping against the fuzzy red carpet laid across the floor, her shoulder harshly slamming into a nearby wall as she tried to desperately course correct. She winced, but kept moving frantically even as she silently acknowledged that she’d be feeling that mark tomorrow- if she even ever made it out of this place.

One of the doors in the hallway burst open, with someone moving out of it at a fast pace- Lena realized that she wasn’t simply going to go _through_ the stranger anymore a bit too late, her desperate attempts at skidding to a stop ineffectual.

She expected to slam into the duck and send both of them into a messy heap, but at the last moment the stranger moved swiftly to the side, a hand shooting out to grab her and-

Lena let out an embarrassingly high pitched shriek as she was flipped, vision tumbling for a moment before she hit the floor harshly.

“OO _ohf_ f!” She squeaked, all the air bursting from her chest in one big huff, leaving her breathless and aching. Her head swam and she felt vaguely dizzy, clenching her eyes closed and waiting for the stranger to hit her. Or maybe they’d kick her, seeing as she was on the ground.

But nothing happened. Well, not _nothing_ \- she could feel the person above her lean over her- and wasn’t that wild? That she could _feel_ air being displaced now?? She’d completely forgotten all about that.

The point was no one was hurting her, which seemed suspicious.

She peeked her eyes open, only to flinch at the sight of two light blue eyes staring down at her with an intensity that was almost scary. There was a duck standing over her, surprisingly short and surprisingly young-looking, maybe around Lena’s age- and not, as she’d assumed, an adult fully trained in Taekwondo or whatever. How in the world had she practically thrown her? She was also wearing a cute pink bow and smiling in a somewhat charming way, if it weren’t also so serial-killer-y.

“Hi I’m!-“ The duckling paused mid-sentence, probably in reaction to Lena, who had seen a hand shooting out at her and heard a raised voice and automatically turned her head away from the blow. Only, the girls fist wasn’t in a fist, it was flat, stretched out as if to shake Lena’s hand- all Lena had managed to do was bump her head rather unfortunately against the hardwood floor.

The girl blinked, looking a bit confused, before a smile jumped back to her features and she continued her sentence as if Lena had never moved.

“Hi I’m Webby! What’s your name?” She chirped cheerfully, hand still outreached as if they were two strangers meeting normally, despite the fact she was looming ominously over Lena.

Lena was a little too shocked by this procession of events to do much else than acquiesce, her own hand timidly coming up to awkwardly grip Webby’s and give it a polite shake.

“U-um, I’m-mm Len-ah?” She stuttered, her voice coming out strange and slurred, even stuttering in some places. She sounded like she’d swallowed sandpaper for breakfast every morning, and as another random funny example, hadn’t spoken in, _say_ , five _entire years_.

Webby didn’t seem to care, or even notice really, giving her an award winning smile, like the knowledge of Lena’s name was some great prize. It was…flattering?

“Oh wow that’s a cool name! It’s nice to meet you Lena!” She enthused, and Lena shot her back a shaky smile- god, she used to be so good at controlling her emotions, and projecting an air of indifference, but right not she felt like she was seconds away from throwing up, so maybe that was too much to hope for.

“Yeahh, g-geeh thhanks p-pink.” She swallowed thickly- was her mouth always this full of saliva? Gross, wow she loved having a body but she very much forgot how many…liquids there were involved.

“C-can you llett me go?” She asked sheepishly, trying to wiggle her hand out of Webby’s iron grip. The girls smile slipped and she looked genuinely remorseful.

“Sorry! You’re a stranger in the manor, and like, that’s not allowed at all! Granny _always_ tells me when she or anyone else invites guests, and yknow, we kind of have a problem with people trying to get in here and steal stuff or blow rooms up or put ancient curses on vases that look normal enough and can easily be knocked down – _accidentally_!- by a very well-meaning duckling, and so-“ Said very well-meaning duckling took in a giant breath of air, having apparently gone through most of it during her impressive speech. Lena watched without interrupting, somewhat entranced by the bizarreness of it all.

“-You can’t just go. Again sorry! I’m sure your perfectly nice and just got lost or something and this whole thing will be cleared up! You’re not a Beagle-Boy right?” Lena blinked, at a bit of a loss of what to say. No, she wasn’t a beagle or a boy?? What did that have to do with anything??

She mutely shook her head. Webby nodded with a satisfied expression.

“Thought as much! They always smell like wet dog and pizza, and you don’t smell like anything- well, you _probably_ do, but I’m not going to sniff you because sniffing other people without their permission in rude!” That last part sounded suspiciously like something she was repeating from someone else and not her own observation.

But before Lena could reply- and honestly, she had no idea what _with_ \- they were interrupted by a shadow fall over them. A very crazy body-builder grandma-y shaped shadow.

Webby twisted her head in an odd painful looking pose, making a happy noise in her throat.

“Granny! I got her!” She cheered with enthusiasm that was so infectious Lena was almost happy _for_ her, and _she_ was the one who’d been ‘gotten’.

‘Granny’ stared down at her from above, face stern and totally intimidating. Lena tensed; her heart rate- which she hadn’t even realized went _down_ in the first place, started to increase its pace again. Maybe Webby was a little crazy, but she was clearly a nice person, and moreover- a _child_ \- kids could be cruel but in her experience adults were almost always worse. This was definitely the part where she got body slammed into submission.

“So I see. Good job Webbigail, you’ve restrained the… _intruder_ excellently- though if I may suggest alerting an adult _first_ before introducing yourself to a potentially dangerous stranger?” The older duck scolded lightly, her eyebrows raised sarcastically. Webby laughed a little sheepishly, but didn’t seem scared in the slightest, which was weird.

“Oh, well, yeah, maybe- but, uh- she’s not a stranger at all! Her name’s Lena! And also she’s not very dangerous either, she weighs less than most of our groceries do!” She declared honestly, and Lena blinked in shock- was Webby trying to defend her? God, first she threw her, then she was all nice, but then she wouldn’t let her go, but then she was trying to get her out of trouble? She felt like she’d snuck onto a rollercoaster again. (which, by the way, why did people _pay_ to ride those things?? She’d thought it’d be fun but it was awful!) She supposed she should just be lucky there was less barfing involved this time.

Webby turned her head back to Lena, looking thoughtful.

“Hey, you should probably be eating more; you’re too tall to weigh so little!” And now she was… _what_ , trying to fatten her up and eat her?? Why did she _care_ whether or not she was a healthy weight!?

‘Granny’ let out a gusty sigh, looking fondly exasperated.

“Yes well I’m sure… _Lena_ will take that into account. I need to take her downstairs now Webbigail, we’re going to have a bit of a _chat_.” Lena froze, breath caught in her chest, spiky and cold like frost. Shit, _shit_ , what was she _doing_ , she should have struggled more- should have tried to bite the girl holding her down, never mind how nice she seemed!

Webby paused, glancing worriedly down at Lena for a moment, before allowing her grandmother to grab hold of her instead.

“Can…can I come? Yknow, to uh, keep her company? ” She asked hesitantly, drooping a bit when the older duck shook her head.

“No I don’t think that would be a good idea. We’ll be sending the triplets upstairs as well; you can play together in your rooms, but do _not_ go downstairs.” She stated firmly, her voice as steely as the law. Webby sighed but nodded, giving Lena a small sad wave before she turned around and ran for her room.

Lena couldn’t even return the gesture if she wanted to, her arms trapped at her side and her legs kicking in the air- jock grandma’s muscles weren’t just for show, and it felt like she was being crushed by a boulder from all sides.

She panted, breath coming in more and more strenuously as she tried desperately to scratch and kick her way out. No one ever held you down for nice things- that was just a fucking fact! She hadn’t been touched in years, and when she had it had rarely been kindly, and _this_ \- this was all _too_ _much_ at once, the pressure of arms around her might as well been electric for the way it jolted at her body. All she could think was that she was going to be hurt- and beyond that nothing else mattered. She _had_ to escape, she _had_ to- but she couldn’t- and every moment she was stuck looped that all-consuming hysteria around into itself, multiplying over and over until the sides of her vision started to-

All Lena had time to think before she passed out was ‘ _shit not now!_ ’

But really, there was never a good time to faint.

**Author's Note:**

> you may have noticed it at this point, but Lena has a completely different backstory in this fic than in cannon, which is intentional. It will be explained in more depth eventually.


End file.
